Garage floor ideas - on the cheap

[absoluteczech]

My wife and I just bought our first house. The previous owners left it in terrible condition.

Budget is tight since it's be used on other more critical things at the moment, but any ideas what I can do to this garage for under $300?

its 20x20 with a small cut out for garbage. Total square food is about 425sqft

De-grease, etch and just seal with something? How is that epoxyshield pro stuff? Is it actually any good?

Looked at the armorshield stuff but its a little pricey and it's also for either 300sqft or 600sqft.

edit* forgot to add, 2 cars will be parked here and some storage added eventually. Minor work like rotating tires or changing brake pads, and detailing cars will be done inside garage.
Here's a pic

 

[fowldarr]

no pic.

 

[absoluteczech]

no pic.

its there, it's on imgur, perhaps its being blocked

ill upload it as a backup

 

[Gummi Bear]

Rent a polisher. You can knock it out in a weekend on your budget. Add a coat of clear sealant to protect.



Epoxy coatings look great, that’s another idea worth pursuing.



I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately...

Henry David Thoreau

 

[absoluteczech]

I've had two floors painted and seen countless others. People have been painting garage floors since there have been garage floors.
Buy some floor paint. $150 bucks will do it, and you'll be done in a day. Speckle. Swirl. One color. A mural....
It'll be fine for years to come and touches up real easy.
Do the fancy stuff later if you feel the need.

Or
1.77 a sqft buys tractor supply stall mats.

I'm mostly afraid of hot tire pickup. I dont want to spend $200-300 only to have peeling floors in 5 months. That's my biggest concern.

 

[Garage Flooring]

My wife and I just bought our first house. The previous owners left it in terrible condition.

Budget is tight since it's be used on other more critical things at the moment, but any ideas what I can do to this garage for under $300?

its 20x20 with a small cut out for garbage. Total square food is about 425sqft

De-grease, etch and just seal with something? How is that epoxyshield pro stuff? Is it actually any good?

Looked at the armorshield stuff but its a little pricey and it's also for either 300sqft or 600sqft.

edit* forgot to add, 2 cars will be parked here and some storage added eventually. Minor work like rotating tires or changing brake pads, and detailing cars will be done inside garage.
Here's a pic

3 gallons of our WB epoxy. $360.00 less 7% (Coupon code GJ7)
https://www.garageflooringllc.com/simple-no-odor-garage-floor-epoxy/

 

[Armorpoxy]

We would suggest a coat of our one part SPGX polyurea. Meets your budget and 10x better than a home center product.

 

[absoluteczech]

3 gallons of our WB epoxy. $360.00 less 7% (Coupon code GJ7)
https://www.garageflooringllc.com/simple-no-odor-garage-floor-epoxy/

3 gallons because 1 gallon would be mixed w/ water and used as a primer? and 2 gallons because using it as a "color" only does 300 sqft... so i'd need 2.

will this product work fine with a an acid etch and degreaser cleaning or do i need to sand my floor?

$334 after gj discount?

We would suggest a coat of our one part SPGX polyurea. Meets your budget and 10x better than a home center product.

1 coating would be enough? Do you sell smaller than 1 gallon so I'm not buying an extra gallon for 25 additional sqft?

will this product work fine with a an acid etch and degreaser cleaning or do i need to sand my floor?

$412 after gj discount?

 

[Jaguar Fan]

Hi absoluteczech,

I'd start with just a thorough cleaning & degreasing of the concrete. Let it dry thoroughly for a week (?) and then do the moisture test. Take a 3 foot by 3 foot piece of plastic tarp and tape it to the floor, sealing all edges very well with tape. Let it set for at least 24 hours. Then pull it up & look to see if the slab or the underside of the plastic tarp are wet. If they are dry, then proceed with whatever you decide to do. If, however, they are damp - that might indicate the lack of a vapor barrier underneath the slab, and you should come back & ask the vendors about that - they might have another suggestion or two.

The general wisdom is that if the slab didn't have a moisture barrier underneath it, the hydrostatic pressure could cause an epoxy to "pop off" the slab (perhaps a pro installer could talk about it more).

At any rate, it is a very simple & easy test to do.

 

[Jaguar Fan]

As I look at the photo of your slab, I do not think acid etch will be sufficient. I think you will need to grind the surface.

You need to scrape off the stuff that appears to be paint. You need to thoroughly degrease it so water doesn't bead up - and it may bead up even after everything you try.

You are most likely going to need to spend more money on accessories to lay down the coating, and those will add up.

If it were me, I'd just clean it & degrease it -- and then save up until my budget is quite a bit higher, and then do it in an epoxy with a clearcoat, but that's me. YMMV.

 

[absoluteczech]

Thanks Jaguar, I was hoping to avoid having to rent a grinder at big orange, because frankly my time is running out. I have various projects going on (inside the house) and am slated to move in within 2 weeks. I was hoping to have the garage somewhat done prior to moving in and loading it full of junk/racks, bikes, etc.

Cause it will only be harder to do later in my opinion.

 

[Garage Flooring]

3 gallons because 1 gallon would be mixed w/ water and used as a primer? and 2 gallons because using it as a "color" only does 300 sqft... so i'd need 2.

will this product work fine with a an acid etch and degreaser cleaning or do i need to sand my floor?

$334 after gj discount?



1 coating would be enough? Do you sell smaller than 1 gallon so I'm not buying an extra gallon for 25 additional sqft?

will this product work fine with a an acid etch and degreaser cleaning or do i need to sand my floor?

$412 after gj discount?

Acid etch is sufficient.

I do not sell smaller quantities but we can make it as quoted because of the products pot life

 

[absoluteczech]

home depot has this for $46/day.

Would this work on cleaning/prepping the floor?

assuming this would work better than a gallon of etching, no?

 

[Armorpoxy]

The tool above when matched with a rented 'Diamabrush' from Home Depot will do a good job of prepping the floor. Make sure you have a very good vacuum and spare filters so when it loses suction from the concrete dust which it will you don't have a dust cloud. Consider getting a Dust Deputy too.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002JP315K/?tag=atomicindus08-20